


So Beautiful, So Powerful

by Weird_Cats



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:21:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24984493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Weird_Cats/pseuds/Weird_Cats
Summary: It's been almost a year since Steven left beach city. The gems are moving on, finding new activities. Except one. One particular blacksmith has a bit of a difficult time, as new times bring old feelings back to the surface
Relationships: Bismuth & Garnet (Steven Universe), Bismuth & Pearl (Steven Universe), Bismuth/Pearl (Steven Universe), Lapis Lazuli & Pearl (Steven Universe), Ruby/Sapphire (Steven Universe)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 21





	1. The Talk

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I am once again feeding this ship, this time with content of more quality than the last. Enjoy!

.

The sun had shone brightly upon Beach City. It had been one of the warmest days of the year. Still, the summer heat hadn’t stopped the gems from continuing their normal activities. Cherry Quartz, together with Blue Lace Agate had been chilling at Funland, Little Larimar and Snowflake had felt as busy as ever giving ice to humans, The Famethyst had had a road trip to give Steven a surprise visit on his travels and Peridot had been talking about gem technology with Ronaldo (he didn’t understand most of the speech).

So many things were happening that day. BUUUUUUT… none of the ones listed above will be talked about right now. Instead we will focus our attention on the beach house. Greg was away, for he had to buy ~ _for the first time in years~_ a new T-shirt. Instead, the porch was occupied by Garnet and, surprisingly, Bismuth. The blacksmith’s presence had a reason. That reason could be seen right in front of the house. Pearl and Lapis were having a rather fun time showing off their powers. Pearl had enhanced her ability to manipulate sand since Steven left. Now the pale gem was forming sculptures out of sand while her opponent tried to destroy all of them with water in the shortest time possible… As you’ve probably noticed, once again, Bismuth was there for Pearl. And for some minor reparations of the house.

_Pearl was indeed worth admiring. Her form so slender and frail yet so powerful in ways she could have never imagined back on homeworld. Her gem glistened in the warm rays of the sun, surrounded by short peach strands of hair. Her wonderful blue eyes sparkled with joy each time she created a new masterpiece from sand. Stars… She was beautiful…_

Bismuth admired Pearl with all her being. She appreciated and respected her, but a new era of love & peace unravels old feelings, much deeper than appreciation.

“Bismuth?” Garnet interrupted her thoughts.

“Wha-What?”

“You are staring at them. Come on.” She said and entered ~~Steven’s~~ Greg’s room.

She sat quietly on the bed. Of course, the worker gem followed. In moments like this, you could clearly spot Sapphire’s calm temper through the fusion.

“You were staring at Pearl. I know you had feelings for her since you’ve first met. I know you don’t want her to find out but…”

“WAIT IT’S THAT OBVIOUS?! Bismuth was not just startled. Not even shocked could properly describe the emotion she felt.

“It is obvious.”

The dark blue blush overflowed her face and shoulders. She never thought anyone could notice. Guess love really makes you dizzy enough to not think of something as simple as that. As Garnet was the only couple she trusted enough for advice, she got all her courage and asked:

“Do you think she will ever... y’know… share this… affection?” As confident as she usually was, now, she was more than flustered.

“I know she does. Bismuth, you always look at Pearl with such admiration and love. It reminds me of when Ruby and Sapphire first saw the Earth’s wonderful forests. Though nature bloomed around them, they only had eyes for each other.”

“She does?” The look on her face was so hopeful, so lively, so happy

“You will very soon find out.”

That marked the ending of the conversation. Garnet stood up and immediately walked down the stairs. That left Bismuth sitting on the bed, confused, full of hope and happier than ever.


	2. An idea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl and Lapis continue playing. Garnet and Bismuth both left unnoticed. An idea passes through "the water witch's" head.

“Catch this!” A large wave hit Pearl’s sand wall full force. After all the time they’ve spent there they were both soaked from Lazuli’s attacks.

“Aren’t you tired, Pearl?”

“An average war battle would have lasted a lot more. I can keep going, though I will prefer not to because I’m not exactly comfortable with the water in my clothes and hair.”

“Fine…” Lapis dropped the ball that would have been the next assault.

After they started walking to the house, the taller gem asked:

“Is Bismuth okay? Lately she seemed so quiet and timid…”

“Wait, what? I’ve never seen her happier! Anytime me and Peridot walk by her she’s either humming a melody or smiling.”

They reached the house.

“I… haven’t noticed that. I guess this is where we split.” She said and started walking up the wooden stairs.

“Wait! Peridot told me that when someone behaves like this, they may have what humans call a <<crush>> on someone.”

“Well… that, would be highly improbable! Right?” Pearl suddenly got flustered, teal filling her face. “Bye!”

“Bye…”

Lapis knew she had cracked the code. Oh, how excited Peri is going to be once she finds out!

Pearl was sure what Lazuli said was pure nonsense. She tried not to think much about that, but her mind was constantly analyzing the idea. After all what other explanation could there be?


	3. A night to be remembered

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl and Bismuth feel conflicted about their feelings and go stargazing, or at least that's what each of them thought they would do

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MAN, this is longer than anything I've ever written. Hope you'll enjoy reading!

The sky was getting darker with every minute that passed. The sunset wasn’t far. Bismuth was sitting on the sand, closer to the gem town than the house. Should she go to Little Homeworld? Nah, the cloudless sky promised a wonderful spectacle of warm colours and an equally beautiful starry night. She had to finish a sword, but that could wait until tomorrow. Maybe she could spend some time with Pearl! After all, Garnet knew…NOPE it would turn out badly for sure. All of a sudden, her eyes fell on a teal spot on the shore further away. Pearl? Of course it was her. Why every time she thought about this matter, Pearl would appear from thin air.

  
………  
Hours went on, but Pearl could not get what Lapis said off her mind. It just made too much sense. She and Bismuth had spent so much time together, during the rebellion and in recent years as well. Each one of those moments were truly special.  
Stargazing would sure calm her mind a little, so there she was, sitting on the sand, waiting for the light to dim out and slowly disappear, just so it could reveal the amazing amount of crystals pinned onto the dark canvas of the sky. It was incredible that those dots of light were planets, galaxies, balls of fire that could be already dead by the time they saw them.

  
Wait, there was another gem on the beach… Tall, rainbow hair…  
“Bismuth? What are you doing here?”  
“Eh, just… hangin’ around, waiting for the stars.”  
“Interesting… I was doing the same thing. Didn’t you have to work on Blue Lace’s new sword?”  
“Thought I’d take a break… Want some company?”  
“Sure…”  
So the blacksmith sat down next to her as carefully as she could. A little shiver passed through Pearl’s body. She thought she cared about herself more than ever, but did she ever take her feelings seriously? Now it seemed a bit too late to think about that. She had to do something, not just awkwardly sit there. Or did she? There was no hurry, no war, no secrets. Maybe She will have time to work it out later…

  
“Pearl? You look troubled, is something wrong?”  
Great. She worried Bismuth. Perfect.  
“It’s nothing… Just some …emotions.”  
“Y’know you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to”  
Exactly that was conflicting her. Bismuth cared about her more than anything. Rose never cared. Pearl was never afraid to hurt her… With Bismuth, well, it was a different situation.  
“No, I want to talk. It’s just difficult to express that using words…”  
“Could you show me then?”

That phrase. That clicked. She knew she could do that, but she was scared of hurting her. Oh dear, if she was going to do anything, she’d rather do it now, when people would go to sleep and gems wouldn’t roam all over the place. That being said, she gathered all her courage and pushed herself closer to Bismuth, now leaning on her arm. She stopped right there, already feeling her face heat up.  
As for the larger gem, that gesture meant the world. It meant Pearl needed her to be by her side, and that was something she would happily do. She wrapped an arm around her waist, her heart warming at the feeling of pure joy.

Pearl ignored the blush covering her form and took the much larger hand in hers. Their fingers slowly intertwined; Their bodies pressed into each other in a tight but gentle embrace, their sights too afraid to meet. The moon guarded over them as the only onlooker, sending white beams of light to the ground, contouring their shapes as a soft shadow on the sand. Pearl’s ivory skin seemed so soft at the touch of the rough hands of a worker. Eyes closed, they didn’t notice their gems’ glowing brighter than any moonbeam. Right there, under the shining stars, they melted into one body of light. It didn’t last long. Just as the new entity was taking form, they split, both startled and afraid. They fell on the ground still not realizing what exactly was going on.  
“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to! I’ll keep my distance!” Her arms were moving in denial as if she had hurt the slender gem.  
“I… didn’t mind it… It felt even nice…”  
With that remark, Bismuth’s face turned a bit less blue. At least she hasn’t made Pearl uncomfortable. Wait, she liked it?  
“It did? I mean, it wasn’t intentional, it just happened!”  
After that, there were some seconds of silence that seemed like ages (Pearl tidied her jacket of some seemingly invisible dirt and Bismuth just stared down at the beach”  
“Can we… NO no no no no, excuse me.” Damn it, now she became even more flustered. Hopefully, the moonlight was too dim to reveal her blush.  
“Hey, you don’t need to shut yourself out. If you want to say something, say it. I won’t judge.”  
“…Can we dance?”  
“Uhh… Yeah… only if you are comfortable with it.”  
“I am”

Still hesitating, Bismuth took a step towards Pearl, and, thank the stars, she did the same. The distance between them closed until only a few inches divided them. Pearl had fused before and knew enough dance moves to fuse with someone new. As for the other gem… this would have been the first time, so she didn’t know quite what to do. The darkness that surrounded them was prohibiting familiar things like sparring, but it also gave a cozy, intimate atmosphere.  
Of course, Pearl made the first move, a little clumsy, not knowing how Bismuth would react: she took both her hands in hers. Nothing more, nothing less.  
The large gem’s reaction was, by far, unexpected. She twirled her around, then lifted her for a second. Her smile was something she had never seen before. Her happiness was contagious. Guess Pearl could also let out a smile.  
She put one palm on Bismuth’s chest, close to her gem and the other held her hand once again.  
The blacksmith became timid, having never trusted anyone enough to let her gem be so easy to touch. She felt so vulnerable. Those hundreds of years of fighting made her extremely cautious. Still, she knew Pearl would never have those intentions, so she carefully hugged her waist to feel her even closer. If she was gonna feel vulnerable, it better be worth it.  
Pearl’s gem shone in the moonlight. Its surface looked so smooth, it was hard to think that it had been scratched and cracked too many times to keep count. She tilted over just so she could reach the gemstone and left a soft kiss. That was all it took; The darkness around them disappeared just for a moment and they became one. At first, the fusion was just standing there astonished, however, it immediately started twirling around in glee, laugh filling the place…

  
As the first shades of yellow took over the sky, they knew it was time to split. Stars, did they spend the whole night together?  
They looked at each other and agreed: for now, if anyone asks them, that night didn’t happen, even though they will both cherish it forever.


	4. Secrets are hard to keep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They thought the secret was easy to keep, but a burst of light can't exactly be ignored by everyone.

As the day settled upon Earth, all creatures started roaming. Sunbeams found their way through the branches, leaving dots of light on the cold soil.  
Bismuth was already in the forge, working on Blue Lace’s sword. Pearl was a little late compared to her.  
She was just coming in the house when Amethyst screamed:  
“HEY P!!! Where’ve you been all night?”  
Amethyst was back early.  
“It is none of your business, Amethyst. Weren’t you supposed to return in the evening?”  
“Meh, the van we borrowed ran out of gas and we had to carry it back all the way here, that about sums up the road trip. Now tell me what’d I miss? Garnet said she saw someone fuse out there on the beach. Was that yooou P?”  
Garnet was sitting on the couch, completely straight faced: “Sorry.”  
“I- I was not on the beach! I… I waaas…” Teal filled Pearl’s face.  
“So that was you, huh? Who was the lucky gem?”  
Why did she have to tease her, just why  
“I was not there!”  
“Oh c’mon P! Your face says it all! Even Garnet knows!”  
True, the fusion was smiling. It was a smile similar to the one she gave Stevonnie, but this time she was trying to contain it.  
“ALRIGHT, maybe it was me, but it is still none of your business!”  
“It is none of my bismuth, riiiiiight? I am sure she was the one there.”  
“I-I…”  
Uh-oh… they guessed right.  
Before the purple gem (more like gremlin now) could say anything else, Garnet stood up, came to Pearl and hugged her.  
The look on Pearl’s face was very embarrassed. She just wanted to go hide away.  
“Amethyst! Let’s leave Pearl alone.”  
THANK THE STARS GARNET SAVED HER  
“Ugh, really?.... fine”  
They both warped away the next second. Phew  
…………  
Ruby and Sapphire arrived at Little Homeworld. Sapphire walked to the greenhouse while Ruby ran through the forge’s door with a speed and strength she rarely displayed.  
“BISMUTH!” she yelled  
“Whoa there, Ruby! What’s happening?”  
“YOU FUSED FOR THE FIRST TIME?!”  
“Uhh, how’d you know that…?”  
“Doesn’t matter! Tell me EVERYTHING about it!!!” the small guard climbed on the anvil to be closer to Bismuth’s height.  
“You know you and Sapphire are the ones I’d speak to regarding this kind of stuff, but I don’t really want to talk about it.”  
“Oh come on. At least tell me if it was friendship or like, love!”  
“What do you think, tiny?” She blushed. She had everything under control, but she still blushed.  
“Looooove?”  
She was wrong. The situation was not under control  
“I knew it! Have you proposed!”  
“Uhhhh, aren’t you getting a bit too personal and specific? Look, I can handle it.”  
“Well, at least who was it? Pearl?”  
Oopsie.  
“Okay, that’s it, you guessed it, now I’ve got work to do, bye!”  
She pushed the grinning Ruby out of the forge. She wanted to keep it secret and she failed. Hope she wasn’t going to spread the word.  
……  
“Bismuth? Has Ruby been around here?”  
“Sapphire! Surprisingly, yes, she left just a couple of minutes ago.”  
Sapphire held a pot of Forget-Me-Not in her hands.  
“So she communicated the message. These are for her.” She put the pot on the forge.  
“For Ruby?”  
“For Pearl.”  
“How- Have you been spying on me, or what?!”  
Her words echoed through the room. Sapphire was already gone.  
Did she have to give the flowers to Pearl? Maybe Sapphire would forget it… she rarely forgets anything. OK, so the question was How To Give Pearl The Flowers?  
She still had to think about that.


	5. Now what should I do

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bismuth tries to find help with the personal matter that was a pot of flowers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is heavy on dialogue. very much talking if you ask me

And…there was Bismuth, walking around Little Homeworld with a look of great confusion on her face. She felt like she had to ask someone for advice. She could go ask one of the friends she made in the Rebellion, but they would surely start teasing her. There were also Peridot and Lapis! Though Lazuli wasn’t a preferred option, as she had caught up on Bismuth’s feelings at least a bit more than she wanted. So she made a beeline towards Peridot’s place.  
*knock! knock!  
Peridot’s voice was loud and squeaky as she answered.  
“Coming!” she soon opened the door.  
“Umm, hi. Can you please help me with something?”  
“Of course!”  
“Or at least she’ll try.” Lapis said. Apparently, she was over at Peridot’s for some binge watching whatever that is.  
When Bismuth took a step inside, both other gems noticed the pot she held.  
With an expression that she could only describe as something close to disgust, Peridot asked:  
“Who are those for?”  
“That’s… what I’m here to talk to you about. However I didn’t expect seeing Lapis here too”  
“Hey.”  
She sat down on the floor as far from her as possible, and Peridot took a seat right between them.  
“I have a hypothesis!” said Peridot with a large smile. “Lapis here told me she thinks Pearl has a crush on you, so my advice is to give her the plants!”  
Lapis grinned.  
So Pearl really liked her. While colour rose to her cheeks she spoke:  
“Please don’t tell everyone.”  
“Nah.”  
“I am very good at keeping secrets, so you can trust me!”  
“Alright, tiny”  
After a short pause she asked:  
“So I should give Pearl the flowers, but do you have any idea of how?”  
“Oh! I’ve read some romantic movies’ scripts, so I think you should do it propose style! According to my research of 63 different movies and shows, the probability rate of success is higher than if you just gift the pot.”  
“And… what is success in this scenario?”  
“You will go on a date!”  
Lapis started laughing uncontrollably. Peridot was proud of herself. Bismuth just sat there deep in thought, her hand on her chin.  
“That was not what I asked for… I think I’m gonna figure it out myself”  
“Okay! Bye!”  
“Have fun on your date with the bird!” Lapis yelled, but the blacksmith was already out.  
Well, that didn’t help. It was about four o’clock and she still had no idea how to give the …expressive gift without it being awkward.

Well, now who could she talk to… Should she call Steven? He might as well not hear the phone (and it would be a borrowed phone anyway). Any of his friends maybe? Connie! Connie had to give her a sincere helping hand. Luckily she was out for sparring practice today and she just had to wait five more minutes to see her walking home.  
“Connie?”  
“Hi! Haven’t seen you in quite some time! What’s with the flowers?”  
“I have a little issue I have to talk about. Could we go somewhere more…hidden?”  
“Sure! Funland’s closed today so no one is there now. Is it okay?”  
“Yeah”  
….  
“So what’s the deal?”  
“I fused with Pearl, we tried to keep it secret, we failed, Sapphire gave me the pot so I would give it to her but I don’t know how to do that without seeming awkward, and please don’t tell Steven!” the sentence came out more like a storm than a phrase.  
“AWWWWW That is sooo cuuuteee!!! Steven told me about what he talked to you about at the roller rink!” Bismuth blushed a little.  
“Yes, now can you please get to the answers?”  
“Oh, well I say you should just express your true feelings! If she doesn’t share them, she isn’t going to kill you. Either way, be as true to her as you are to yourself!”  
“I… Thanks!”  
“No problem! I’ll wait for you to tell me how it went!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ah yes, there is going to be a 6th chapter. beware confessions

**Author's Note:**

> I am proud of this. Don't judge me  
> Please tell if you think someone was written out of character!


End file.
